Eff1n2ret

Banchang, Rayong - still quite intermittent.

13 hours ago, London Lowf said:

I'm 70 and considering a permanent move to Thailand - the only thing that was holding me back was a reliance on the NHS but I'm now starting to believe that that is no longer a major consideration. Luckily, if I sold up here I would be able to self-insure to quite a high degree.

Go for it. I'd be terrified of going back to Miseryland and having to cope without the superb healthcare I've had (and paid for) here. Just make sure you keep a good wedge in the bank and don't blow it on buying land and motorcycles for some girlfriend and her family.

10 hours ago, tanner said:

glad to escape the heat,

I'm glad to escape the cold. Good luck in whatever hellhole of a care home you're consigned to - unless you're filthy rich.

3 minutes ago, Tod Daniels said:

You just won't give it a rest, they are not here ON a visa <- they are on an extension of stay and there is no issue AT ALL with changing the reason for an extension. people do it all the time
Employment to marriage, marriage to retirement, retirement to marriage, education to marriage, employment to retirement <- those are REASON CHANGES. and have nothing to do with changing a visa type at the MFA or leaving the country.

 

The snag with changing off employment is that your permission to stay lapses when the work permit is cancelled. Whether you can put your application in for retirement whilst your WP is still active, I don't know, but a dozen years ago I got my WP cancelled at Chonburi then the Non-B at Jomtien, then was given a retirement extension at Rayong the following day, at the cost of a fine for an "overstay"  - so it can be done in-country, but you have to get your ducks in a row.

I don't know if it's the same make, but I saw one of those with the ridiculously fat tyres in a cycle shop in Rayong, just after Homepro on the main road going into town. 35k Baht. It looked as if it's been in stock there for some time.

As a Brit, given the abysmal quality of the politicians who have degraded our democracy in recent decades I wouldn't be dogmatic about the way China chooses to govern itself - and when the citizens of the world's leading democracy have to choose between a shambling geriatric and a slightly younger narcissistic sociopath anyone arriving from Mars might wonder which system will deliver better results in the coming century.

I'm also not surprised that the Chinese don't seem to like us very much. Disregarding earlier centuries and such as the Opium Wars, there are more recent examples. In the First World War the Chinese Government offered to send Chinese labourers to the Allies, not as combatants but for all the support work needed - digging trenches, laying roads and railways, extending the harbours at Calais and Boulogne, etc, and cleaning up for over a year after the end of the war. Over 90,000 went, and worked for a third of the rate paid to a private soldier. There are several thousand Chinese war graves in Northern France and Belgium. Their Government hoped that this contribution would get them influence at the Versailles negotiations, in particular the return of the German concessions in Shandong province, but they were ignored and the concessions handed to Japan! France allowed some of its workers to settle in France, but the Unions would not countenance any Chinese being allowed to cross to England, and all those who had worked for the Brits were repatriated.

History repeated itself in the Second World War. There were numerous Chinese seamen who enlisted with the Merchant Marine and sailed on the Atlantic convoys. They were based mainly in Liverpool, and some got married and started families. After the war they were quietly rounded up and deported. There were wives and children who never knew what happened to their husbands/fathers, and thought they had just bu88ered off. I was staggered to see a film about this recently, and some woman going to Singapore trying (unsuccessfully) to trace her father.

I don't buy into all this critical race theory rubbish and the breast-beating about colonialism, but I think it is sometimes instructive to "see ourselves as others see us" as the great Rabbie Burns put it.

11 hours ago, giogio said:

the thread is about WISE verification issues and alternatives to WISE as currency changer and transfer

If you really need an alternative, I have used  OFX  - https://www.ofx.com - for the last 14 years. Originally I knew them as UK Forex, but I am sure they operate in the USA as well. I just transfer funds when I need to top up my Thai accounts or when the exchange rate looks relatively favourable, and they quote for Thai Baht on the spot for whatever amount of GBP I am exchanging. The rate may be slightly less favourable than Wise, but there is no transfer fee. After I've paid them from my UK account the funds show up in my Thai account in 24 hours, unless I deal on a Friday, when it might be Tuesday before the money arrives. They use a correspondent bank in Thailand (which I think is SCB), so if showing income in your Thai account as an international transfer is important, this would be a problem for you; it doesn't bother me. SCB syphon off about 200 or 300 baht before the funds reach me.

As far as verification of identity is concerned, it was quite easy at the beginning because I was still registered as a voter at the address I had left in the UK. I had to re-confirm with them a few years back, which involved a phone call and a couple of emails, otherwise everything is very straightforward.

It works fine for me, but if I had to prove monthly income international transfers I would probably use WISE.

If the sender declared the contents of the parcel and included any medical item, the parcel will have been stopped by Thai Customs. Importing medical equipment of any sort without a licence is a no-no, as I found to my cost many years ago when I ordered a support boot on Amazon (in those days I hadn't discovered Lazada). I think it was DHL in BKK who contacted me and offered the options (a) appoint a licensed agent to conclude the import (b) return to sender (c) have the item destroyed. I didn't want to accept the hassle and cost of a or b for a relatively inexpensive item and wrote it off. In the fulness of time you may or may not be contacted by the Thai Post Office, who in my experience have become notoriously unreliable since Covid. I wouldn't have anything of value sent to me via the postal system.

13 hours ago, The Patriat said:

...they use the money in a local bank account to prove as income but it's fake income is based at 12 months or one year not just two months before visa renewal plus the visa renewal month of the visa stamp then some officer have you come back to see the money still in the account or they void your visa but in actuality for money in a bank account whether Thai wife visa or business visa or retirement visa they do not know how to answer of what it's income really is and it's not enough that you CAN NOT Live off of it Alone so it's Corruption...

...etc., etc.,

Sir, your prose style makes it difficult to understand the substance of your beef with Immigration, and in an earlier post you alleged that they had doctored your passport. I accept that you can't reveal more detail of your pending court case, but I do agree with the point I think you're making in the section I've highlighted.

Money in the bank obviously doesn't prove income, and there is a flaw in the system, because if someone on a retirement extension is landed with a large bill, say for medical treatment, which must be paid during the seven months of the year when the account balance must be at least 800k then that person must find the money from somewhere else or else he will not qualify for another extension. In that sense the money in the bank offers no guarantee of someone's ability to support themself, and it opens the door for agents to employ the workarounds with which we are all familiar.

Your faith in the Thai legal system is touching, and I'm not sure whether to wish you good luck. If you did succeed in your mission to cleanse the Augean Stable that Jomtien Immigration allegedly is, the consequences might be unfortunate for quite a lot of people.

Edit: It's 5 months for 800k, then 7 months for 400k

33 minutes ago, connda said:

kindle acceptance

What? I'm fine with the Kindle app.

2 hours ago, OJAS said:

@Eff1n2ret - to be aware of this further Rayong requirement (which unfortunately I forgot to mention previously).

Thanks. In fact I run a balance above 800k and draw cash every month, also update the book every month, so I'm not expecting a problem. To be on the safe side I will go to Maptaphut a week before my next application, show them the book and ask if they need a statement as well. If they do, I'll order it from Bangkok Bank.

43 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

If you don't mind me asking, what are the monthly fees & minimum credit balance for an account like that.

Their current requirements are here:-- Personal Access Account | Skipton International Ltd

I'm surprised to see that apparently new customers have to stump up 25K GBP, as it wasn't anything like that when I opened my account, I can't remember how much I put in to start with. If that is in fact the minimum opening balance I guess that might be prohibitive for many reading this. The minimum balance to earn interest is 10k.

They are very good to deal with, all done online once the account is up and running. I found it very easy to set up because I did it in person at St Peter Port when I was visiting my sister, who lives there.

4 hours ago, glegolo18 said:

What have Rayong Province with Laem Chabang to do??? Laem Chabang is situated in Chonburi many many kilometers away from Rayong....

Perhaps they meant Laem Charoen Beach

3 hours ago, gomangosteen said:

Rest break on a 60km cycle ride, 7 August 2023, Laem Sing beach

Eastern Thailand: Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, Chon Buri, Prachin Buri, Rayong, Sa Kaeo, Trat

Hard going against the wind at times, I guess.

32 minutes ago, KruBrian said:

I’m confused. I think some people have said I need to leave the country and get a Non-O, but  other people have said can just change the reason for extension of stay (in Bangkok) to retirement.

I did this in-country many moons ago, but it was a bit of a work-up because you can't be "retired" when you still have a work permit. In my case this involved getting the WP cancelled at the Labour Office. As soon as the WP was cancelled, the permission to stay lapsed, and I had a frantic drive from the Labour Office at Chonburi (my employment was based in Pattaya) to the Immigration Office at Rayong to make the retirement application the same day. The IO there said he couldn't cancel the Permission to stay, which was issued in Jomtien, I had to go there first. Bright and early the next morning I was at Jomtien, where the IO did the necessary in a couple of minutes, and said, "They will fine you 1000 baht overstay at Rayong". Back at Rayong they reckoned it as a 2000 baht 2-day overstay, all official, written up in a book which I had to sign, but then proceeded to issue me with a retirement extension, no problem.

Best of luck.

1 hour ago, British Consular Team said:

Often British Nationals leave Thai hospitals without paying their bills – we would like to see a change in this.

Thanks very much. I heartily agree with that comment.

1 hour ago, hotandsticky said:

Don't you need a UK address for the Government Gateway?

No.